Steve Pettit's Break with the "Conservative" Base
We have been discussing the Resignation of Steve Pettit from Bob Jones University (BJU). Previously we published, We Deserve Our Troubles, but He Deserves None... and The Issues Nearly Everyone Would be Familiar With.
Our purpose today is to discuss a March 2017 meeting coordinated by the late Dr. Tom Farrell. Dr. Farrell organized the meeting for a large number of conservative pastors to share concerns with Steve Pettit over the direction he was taking BJU.1
Tom Farrell
Leading up to the meeting Tom Farrell was traveling the country in his ministry of itinerant evangelism. He was being asked questions everywhere he went about Steve Pettit and BJU. Consequently, Dr. Farrell asked Steve Pettit, ...if I can get a group of concerned pastors together will you attend and hear their concerns? Dr. Pettit agreed and the meeting was set.
The meeting was held on March 24, 2017 at the Sheraton Charlotte Airport Hotel in Charlotte, NC. I have taken statements from men who attended the meeting. What follows is a compilation of their reflections followed by some closing remarks.
The conclusion of this meeting was the point of no return. Steve Pettit made it clear he determined to advance his agenda for the university at the expense of losing the conservative base, which is what happened.
In future articles we'll consider Steve Pettit's doctrinal shift for the university plus land mines and hurdles left in the wake of his tenure and departure.
LM
The meeting was held on March 24, 2017 at the Sheraton Charlotte Airport Hotel in Charlotte, NC. I have taken statements from men who attended the meeting. What follows is a compilation of their reflections followed by some closing remarks.
Unfortunately, I found that meeting to be nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.” Tom Farrell’s attempt to salvage the conservative base of the university was a failure. I am not sure why Pettit or Sam Horn bothered to come to the meeting, for it was apparent they had not come to seek reconciliation or acknowledge the drift of the university under Pettit’s tenure.Well ahead of that meeting Steve Pettit was warned (repeatedly) that his action or inactions were disenfranchising BJU from its base. A sincere attempt was made to warn and hopefully see Pettit reverse course.
There was a parting jab from Hantz Bernard, I believe he was vice president of the BJU board at the time, and he castigated the pastors at the meeting. Any hope of reconciling with the BJU base was sacrificed at that meeting.
I remember Pettit describing us as the "conservative, right wing of fundamentalism." In fact, we represented historic fundamentalism and it was BJU and not us that had moved.
Steve dismissed the importance of the meeting from the outset by recognizing the number of students represented by the pastors in the room as if to say, “you pastors are not sending that many students.” The better question would have been, “You pastors sent X number of students five years ago and only Y number now. What’s happening?”
I cannot recall any of the main talking points other than that Steve was constantly saying, “Millennials this and millennials that.”
I recall there were a few people concerned that Steve had Dr. Michael Barrett (former faculty and committed covenant theologian) speak at the first Bible Conference he hosted.2
The conclusion of this meeting was the point of no return. Steve Pettit made it clear he determined to advance his agenda for the university at the expense of losing the conservative base, which is what happened.
In future articles we'll consider Steve Pettit's doctrinal shift for the university plus land mines and hurdles left in the wake of his tenure and departure.
LM
See our next in the series, The Driving Force Behind the Departure
Site Publisher’s Addendum
The March 2017 meeting may have been recorded by a BJU staffer. If the recording is on file might it be made available (leaked) to the public?
Footnote
Site Publisher’s Addendum
The March 2017 meeting may have been recorded by a BJU staffer. If the recording is on file might it be made available (leaked) to the public?
Footnote
1) Approximately 80 pastors and concerned men attended.
2) That would be the first of many more Reformed, Covenant theologians appearing at Bible conferences and hired on faculty by Steve Pettit. In an upcoming article we'll have more to say about doctrinal concerns with BJU since the arrival of Steve Pettit.
Related Reading:
Cooperating with Franklin Graham was an act of sinful disobedience to the Word of God. It is an egregious example of ecumenical encroachment at BJU that was engineered and endorsed by Steve Pettit.
The lesson, of course, is simple: Be what God originally called you to be. Get your marching orders from the Bible, not the latest marketing company. And base your practices on Scripture, not the hottest youth culture trends. It’s simple. But, for some, it wasn’t so easy. And it proved to be the death knell of once venerable institutions.
There is a good chance Dr. Pettit will not be leaving after all. Seeing as Dr John Lewis stepped yesterday. Word on the street is Pettit may rescind his resignation
ReplyDeleteSpeculate is all anybody can do. "Word on the street..." of that sort will surely be fueled by the "POISONING"BJU Grads & Friends Facebook outfit.
DeleteI'm confused. Some people claim the the university is shifting its overall culture to be less conservative than it typically has, and this is the reason for the backlash. Others claim that the university is moving towards a more Calvinistic philosophy, and this is the reason for the backlash. So which is it? Aren't these two totally disparate issues?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking your two part question. Your answer is, both are "reason for the backlash," and both are rooted in doctrine. I am currently drafting a lengthy article addressing the shift in culture and doctrine at BJU. Fwiw, the cultural shift is rooted in bad doctrine, which is minimizing, reinterpreting or abandoning the God given principles of separation in exchange for the non-separatism of the so-called "conservative" evangelicals. Every time this has been tried it resulted in the demise of once fine fundamentalist, balanced separatist schools: Pillsbury, TTU, Clearwater and Northland.
DeleteTo be more specific about your referencing Calvinism- while there has been some elements of Calvinism present on campus for decades it was never encouraged or allowed to permeate the school. Today, since Pettit's arrival, Calvinism has become the dominate school of thinking, but it goes deeper than that. Steve Pettit and his executive committee have turned the university into a place for the proliferation of Reformed theology, including Covenant theology, which disparages and rejects a dispensational approach to Bible hermeneutics (interpretation). Furthermore, Pettit has engineered and allowed for the "New" Calvinism to permeate the school in its culture, entertainment and doctrinal philosophy. These things my new article addresses in detail with stark examples.
LM
To better understand the concerns we have with Steve Pettit's BJU see
DeleteNew Calvinism & the Millennial Generation
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2020/02/new-calvinism-millennial-generation.html
The Merger of Calvinism with Worldliness
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2013/09/archival-series-merger-of-calvinism.html
LM
My husband and I are graduates of BJU but because of what we saw coming out of BJU from the Bible department, we told our boys BJU was not an option. We took them to see several other Christian colleges and specifically asked the deans if Calvinism/Reformed Theology or Lordship Salvation would be taught or promoted before we allowed them to attend. In our minds it wasn’t so much the rule changes or standards as it was the theology. Although I do get what you’re saying about the theology leading to changes. The problem I see now with this situation is most parents who don’t agree with the theology are already sending their kids elsewhere. I believe all this is about 5-10 years too late. Now that our older kids are going somewhere else the younger kids are already talking about going to the same college. I’m not sure where BJU would pull kids from again like they use to. My question is given who is currently on the board, what are the chances of a president being hired that would even want to make that huge of a transition and 180?
ReplyDeleteThank you for that personal account. Many are coming to understand that it has been the doctrinal shift, not so much rule changes, haircuts and wardrobe, that disenfranchised a vast swath of one time faithful supporters.
DeleteYou asked other colleges, "...if Calvinism/Reformed Theology or Lordship Salvation would be taught or promoted?" There are Christian colleges today that will give that assurance. Any that would deflect or obfuscate are indicating they do in fact allow for the teaching and promotion of those systems. At BJU, shortly after Pettit’s arrival those systems proliferated the college and seminary. The seeds preceeded Pettit, but he nurtured and wove them deep into the fabric of the university. One need only to look at special speakers LINK invited to the platform of recent Bible Conferences and faculty hires to know where BJU is at doctrinally.
You wrote, "I’m not sure where BJU would pull kids from again...." In the March 2017 meeting coordinated by Tom Farrell- Dr. Pettit had irretrievably disenfranchised and alienated the base that had for decades sent their young people. If Pettit is permanently gone most of the compromising evangelicals he had been pandering to will leave enmasse.
All this may, as you say, "be about 5-10 years too late." Can the school be recovered to a balanced biblical position? Can BJU once more become a place where parents like you can send their young people with the confidence they won't come under the influrnce of the intellectual gurus of Reformed/Covenant theologies, Lordship Salvation and New Calvinism.
That remains to be seen. From my vantage point, being afar off, I see the challenges ahead much like Nehemiah faced when rebuilding the wall.- adversaries within and without. With God, nothing is impossible.
LM
Thank you for your response.
DeleteWe absolutely did ask. Both are boys believe they’re called to ministry and it was very important to us that they not be influenced or encouraged to move towards Reformed/Calvinism or LS. The school we asked assured us that they will be taught about that theology then taught why it’s wrong and how to defend against it. We really appreciated that. My husband has already before college been teaching them why it’s dangerous so knowing the school they attend is reinforcing our beliefs was encouraging.
I will say this as well. There is a group on Facebook that is most definitely using the disguise of standards and reverting back to old rules and throwing around the term legalism. I believe this is to cover the real issue of the battle for BJU. I hope more people come to that understanding like I did. Once I saw posts and comments with labeling, name calling, gaslighting, and broad brushing I left. Comparing IFB churches to the Amish did it for me. Lol! I know there are people who were hurt by IFB churches(we ourselves are among those) but using that hurt to gain an advantage for your “side” to me is just wrong. Maybe that wasn’t their intentions to begin with but many posts have now turned into a hate fest for IFB churches and leaders. At least in my opinion I should say.
As to the future of BJU. I agree that most may leave after a while if Dr Pettit is gone and someone more conservative is hired. The problem is if they leave and those of us who have chosen a different school don’t come back I’m afraid BJU will fold. The school one of our sons attends had the highest number of high school students attend college days ever this Spring. It does make me sad for BJU, and I pray God works a miracle. Nothing is impossible with God!
Thanks again for another helpful reaction to the controversy at and surrounding BJU. Happy to know you found a reliable college where you can send your sons. Since the closure of Pillsbury, TTU, Clearwater and Northland (all ruined by men in leadership who tried the same agenda at those schools as Pettit attempted at BJU) few remain. I can identify 3.5 Christian colleges I'm confident have not followed the path Steve Pettit took put BJU on and what Matt Olson did at Northland.
DeleteI know the Facebook group you speak of. Their tactics are just as you describe them. I liken this groups (which I renamed POISONOUSBJU...") tactics to the progressive wing of the Democrat party. Especially similar to The Clinton's playbook, "the politics of personal destruction."
The future of BJU is in God's hands. Many are praying for its recovery from the devastating effects left in the wake of Steve Pettit's tenure.
LM
Lou, I'd like to enter one small comment/correction about Dr. Michael Barrett mentioned above in your blog entry. Dr. Barrett earned his PhD in OT from BJU and remained there teaching on faculty for some years. All I've heard about him was that he was an outstanding teacher (my son had him for first year Hebrew) and very well liked. He was also a dispensationalist (or so I have been told by one of his former faculty colleagues). I have several of his books, and they are very good. About 2000 he left BJU to found Geneva Reformed Seminary in Greenville, and sometime after that, left to become the Academic Dean of Puritan Reformed Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI. It was also sometime after Barrett left BJU that he also abandoned his dispensational position.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts.
DeleteIn the language courses Barrett taught (Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic) Calvinism, Dispensationalism and Covenant theology would unlikely have been necessary to teach one way or another on those topics. What he may have communicated to students outside those courses is uncertain.
I tend to think that by the time he left BJU for the Reformed, Puritan schools he already began to have reservations with Dispensationalism if not abandoned it.
What I do know from first hand sources is that while a BJU professor Barrett helped to establish Faith Free Presbyterian Church in Greenville and to serve as associate minister. He was then known to be a 5-point Calvinist. Many BJU students came from Baptist churches, attended Faith Free Presbyterian, and because of Barrett's influence they graduated as 5-point Presbyterians, never returning to their Baptist churches.
When Dr. Steve Hankins (dispensationalist) became dean of the seminary, many were glad to see Barrett promptly leave the BJU seminary. Related- soon after Pettit arrived he removed Dr. Hankins from the dean of seminary position and appointed Sam Horn instead.That was an early proof Pettit intended a hard shift for the university and seminary into the Reformed theology orbit, which we have documented with irrefutable evidences. See- Dr. Beale's FACTS article
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2021/12/facts-enlarged-discussion-by-dr-david.html?m=1
and
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2023/04/bob-jones-university-driving-force.html?m=1
and
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2023/01/bob-jones-university-foundations.html?m=1
Fwiw, prior to hiring Sam Horn his previous college experience was alongside Matt Olson where they jointly ruined Northland. Pettit's hiring of Sam Horn cemented in the minds of many that he (Pettit) intended to steer the university into the same Reformed theology and compromising evangelicalism that spelled the end of Northland, Pillsbury, TTU and Clearwater.
Incidentally, Pettit also recently rehired Richard Stratton who (like Matt Olson at Northland) erased the legacy of Clearwater Christian College which resulted in its closure.
These compromising evangelicals, masquerading as fundamental separatists, never learn.
And here we are today, a crisis on the BJU campus engineered by Pettit and his executive administration.
Thanks again,
LM